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65 Years of the FAO Library, 1952-2017

The Story of the FAO Library

The FAO library exhibits a selection of rare books and incunabula – never disclosed before – for the duration of three weeks: 13 October – 3 November.
Staff and external visitors are now able to admire these masterpieces of extreme high value in terms of artistic and intellectual content from the start of
the 15th until the 18th century.

The rare books exhibition is part of the year-long exhibition that celebrates the Library’s 65th anniversary. It tells the story of the historic events that
shaped the Library of FAO, from the International Institute of Agriculture (IIA), the predecessor of FAO, until today.

For more information see the brochure in English or Italian.

Inauguration of the exhibition

On Tuesday, 5 December, the exhibition was officially inaugurated by the Director-General. Speeches were held by Enrique Yeves, Director, OCC and
H.E. Pierfrancesco Sacco, Ambassador, Permanent Representation of the Republic of Italy to FAO, and Thomas Duffy, Chargé d’Affaires a.i., Deputy
Permanent Representative of the United States Mission FAO. The Director-General also launched the publication The story of the FAO Library which
documents the more than a century-long history of the Library of FAO and the patrimony of knowledge it conserves for the agricultural community.

See more pictures of the inauguration. 

Launch of the book The story of the FAO library

The book tells the story of the historic events that shaped the Library of FAO. It starts with the International Institute of Agriculture (IIA), the predecessor
of FAO, founded in 1905 in Rome by King Vittorio Emanuele III upon the initiative of David Lubin. When FAO was founded in 1945 it was quickly decided
that it should become the custodian of the IIA and its Library, which at that time was one of the largest agricultural research collections in the world. The
FAO Library was officially opened in Rome in 1952 and named the David Lubin Memorial Library in recognition of Lubin’s contribution to international
cooperation in the field of agriculture. Over the last 65 years the Library has amassed its own collection, collecting and preserving each and every FAO
document ever published. Today the David Lubin Memorial Library preserves one and a half million volumes, which together form the memory of FAO.